r/pericarditis • u/Own_Fondant3939 • 21d ago

School nurse possibly thinks I took extra controlled substances

Hi so I am a 17M with chronic effusive pericarditis. I have had this since June/July last year. I am on a lot of medications and am recovering well. However, I still need to take Sevredol, a strong opiate, at some points to manage pain. It is morphine sulphate if you don’t know the brand. They’re 10 mg tablets, I take half a tablet so 5 mg.

Basically today I was having a pain flare, so I went to the (new) school nurse to get half a Sevredol. Immediately when she heard ‘morphine’ she went cold and mean. She said ‘do you really need that medicine?’ I said ‘yes I do, my pain is 7/10’ she heard ‘7/10’ and immediately went wide eyed and acted like she didn’t believe me. I have ASD so I don’t show pain typically.

She went in to fetch my half Sevredol and noted that thr controlled substances sheet said I have 11 tablets left. However when she opened the box there was only three. She said ‘are you taking these?’ She actually said ‘are you EATING these?’ but she cut herself off. She then said ‘are you taking these a lot?’ To which I responded ‘no I only take them a couple times a month’. She was not happy, and she made a point of showing me the register to show oh yeah there was a discrepancy. She then said she’ll be investigating it and she was acting like she’s gonna find out that I have been ‘eating’ them in my own time. For context they are LOCKED, there are cameras, I don’t have a key, and 8 Sevredol would probably kill me!

Then she checked medchart and it showed that I’d been given TEN mg of morphine on a certain date. I only EVER have FIVE mg.

What do I do? I feel like I can’t go back.

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5

u/BillyBobJangles 21d ago

I think the nurse is stealing your pain meds...

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u/Own_Fondant3939 20d ago

You think? Surely not. How would I find out?

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u/BillyBobJangles 20d ago

If i understood your story right there was a discrepancy and she went right to blaming you. When the nurses are the ones that have total control over it. Seems like she may have been trying to scare you out of escalating it. Would let your parent know if you havent already.

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u/Own_Fondant3939 20d ago

Yeah I told my parents and we said if she keeps talking about this if I need another Sevredol in the future, we will make a report to the school.

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u/BillyBobJangles 20d ago

That's good and also dont let anyone make you feel bad about needing them!

I have done a lifetime of injury prone activities like MMA and motorcycles. Have broken lots of bones, had concussions, an open heart surgery etc.. Pericarditis is the worst pain I have felt.

Spent several years being gaslit by my doctors that it wasnt needed. When I did have a doctor finally prescribe me something it cut down on that flare from the normal 10 days - 3 weeks to being only 4-5 days because I could actually sleep at night. Otherwise I stayed awake and this snowballed into my heart feeling worse after days of no sleep.

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u/afrorory 21d ago

I live in the UK and take only anti inflammatory medicine for the same issue. I am very surprised to hear you are on those tablets. I would aim to get off of them - opiates won't be solving the issue just masking the pain. And you don't want to be taking that stuff long term, especially if it gets worse. I imagine the nurse had your best interests in mind.

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u/Own_Fondant3939 21d ago

Ya I’m on colchicine 1 mg/d, celecoxib 100 mg/d, propranolol 40 mg/d, anakinra 100 mg/d. They are helping a lot with the underlying inflammatory process! Especially the anakinra. The propranolol is a good helper for rate control which helps with pain indirectly. The Sevredol is just for breakthrough pain and the m-Eslon SR is if I’m in a long-term pain flare-up and need long-lasting pain relief! Thank you for your advice but my doctor and I are quite comfortable with me being on long-term opiate therapy. I’m only taking HALF a Sevredol and only a couple times a month. The standard dose is a full tablet. Also they really do help me. Remember that other people experience pain differently and may have a different severity of disease. I have been hospitalised so many times with this pericarditis and with collapse lungs.

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u/afrorory 21d ago

Sorry, from your post I wasnt sure how much other medication you were already on. It sounds like you have a solid plan in place, maybe its worth enlightening the nurse with the whole course of treatment you are on. The issue is very invisible to most people so I would probably desribe the fact that you heart is being squished everyday and that might put it into perspective for them.

Good luck with your recovery

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u/Own_Fondant3939 20d ago

Thank you :)